Generally, a silver halide photographic material consists of a base and a photographic layer applied on the base. Herein the photographic layer includes a photosensitive silver halide emulsion layer and a non-photosensitive hydrophilic colloid layer.
In the case of silver halide color photographic materials, three kinds of silver halide photographic emulsion layers photosensitive to blue light, green light, and red light, respectively, are applied on a base. These layers contain couplers that are sensitive to blue light, green light, and red light, which, after exposure to these lights, can react with the oxidized product of an aromatic primary amine developing agent at the time of development, thereby forming yellow color, magenta color, and cyan color.
For color print papers, recently, along with the improvement in productivity of photographic prints, the shortening of the delivery time of finished papers, and the reduction of labor in laboratories, there are increasing demands that development processing be made more rapid and photographic materials be made more sensitive, and various measures have been taken toward these ends.
As a way of shortening the periods of processing steps, though usually the temperature is elevated or the replenishing amount is increased, many other techniques have been proposed, including the intensification of stirring or the addition of various accelerating agents.
Among others, for the purpose of making color development rapid and/or lowering the replenishing amount, a method for processing a color photographic material containing a silver chloride emulsion, instead of the conventionally widely used silver bromide emulsions or silver bromoiodide emulsions, is known. For example, a method for processing rapidly a high-silver-chloride silver halide color photographic material with a color developer substantially free from sulfite ions and benzyl alcohol is described in WO 87-04534.
However, when development processing is carried out using the above method, the part where yellow formation and/or cyan formation should fundamentally occur has magenta formation additionally, that is, so-called processing color-contamination occurs, so that the method was unpreferable in view of color reproduction. Further, it was found that fluctuation of the maximum density was great in continuous processing.
Further, it was found that the more the processing temperature was increased to make the color development speed high, and the more the silver chloride content in the silver halide emulsion grains was increased, the more these phenomena increased.
Thus rapid processing that uses a high-silver-chloride color photographic material involved serious problems, i.e. processing color-contamination, and fluctuation of the color density, and therefore such processing could not be used practically.
As a technique of lessening processing color-contamination, it is effective to increase the amount of the hydroquinone derivative in the non-photosensitive layer, but in view of rapid processing the technique was not considered a preferable measure to solve the problem, because the sensitivity of the photographic material lowers and the time required for drying is increased.
With respect to fluctuation of the maximum density in processing, it was found that fluctuation can be fairly lessened when a coupler was improved, for example, when a coupler as shown in WO 88-04795 was used as a magenta coupler. However, when such a coupler was used, although the fluctuation of the maximum color density was lessened, processing color-contamination was made worse, contrary to the expected result, and therefore a technique of satisfactorily lessening the fluctuation of maximum density and also obviating the processing color-contamination could not be provided.
Further, JP-A ("JP-A" means unexamined published Japanese patent application) No. 70552/1986 discloses a method for lowering the replenishing amount of a developer wherein a high-silver-chloride color photographic material is used, and during the development a replenisher is added to the developing bath in such an amount that will not cause overflow; and JP-A No.106655/1988 discloses a method that intends to stabilize processing and develops a silver halide color photographic material comprising silver halide emulsion layers high in silver chloride content with a color developer containing a hydroxylamine compound and a chloride in a prescribed concentration or over. However, these methods could not obviate processing color-contamination and the fluctuation of the maximum density as stated above, and therefore they could not be practically used.
Although chloride ions or bromide ions are known as antifoggants, when the ions are used alone, the effect of lessening processing color-contamination is low, and further, if the ions are added in such an amount that only a slight effect of lessening processing color-contamination can be recognized, adverse influences take place in that the development is made slow and the maximum density is lowered, contrary to the expected result.
Further, nitrogen-containing heterocyclic compounds are known as antifoggants and anti-aging stabilizers. However, if such a compound is used alone, although fluctuation of the maximum density is lessened slightly, little effect in lessening processing color-contamination is recognized.
Therefore, it was required to develop a silver halide color photographic material suitable for rapid processing that was in processing color-contamination and also low in fluctuation of photographic quality (the maximum density), and a method for processing the same.
The present inventors have studied in various ways and found that when a silver halide color photographic material that has high-silver-chloride silver halide emulsions comprising 80 mol % or over of silver chloride, and which contains a nitrogen-containing heterocyclic compound, the solubility product of the silver salt of which is 10.sup.-10 or less but 10.sup.-18 or more, is processed with a color developer containing chloride ions in an amount of 3.5.times.10.sup.-2 to 1.5.times.10.sup.-1 mol/l, and bromide ions in an amount of 3.0.times.10.sup.-5 to 1.0.times.10.sup.-3 mol/l, processing color-contamination is lessened and the fluctuation of the maximum density is made small.